Maxie was left to Spoiler and Orphan's company after Nightwing left with Lucian. The three of them were seated on rolling chairs around the massive computer in the far back, having just finished acquainting themselves with each other.
"So..." Spoiler handed Maxie a bag of chips—one that, at some point, she produced from who knows where. "What made you get in on this whole vigilantism thing?"
Max took a second to answer, staring down at her bag long after she'd opened it. "I don't really know," she replied slowly. "I mean, I decided to do it because L— uh... my partner asked if I wanted. I guess I saw it as a chance to have his back or something."
"You want to protect the one who usually does the protecting," Orphan said suddenly.
Maxie was startled, but she easily composed herself. "Yeah... I guess that's part of it."
'Protecting, huh...?'
Immediately, Tammy came to mind. Maxie couldn't help but feel like she'd failed her. There was nothing she could have done to keep her safe, that much was true—but that only made the situation weigh on her much, much worse.
Nervously, she decided to take a chance. "Do any of you guys know how to deal with mind control...?" she asked.
The energy in the cave visibly dampened, but it didn't keep either of the others from answering. "So he told you," said Orphan.
Maxie nodded, and Spoiler took over the conversation. "We do, but we can't just go to the victim and 'fix' them. This isn't brain-hacking tech that Donovan has, after all. We need to target him directly and use meta-dampeners to turn his powers off."
"It's the only way we have right now," Orphan appended.
A sigh left through Maxie's nose, and her jaw set. She toed at the floor, gaze stuck to the bag in her hands. Suddenly, her once-comforting clothes became heavy, restrictive, and suffocating. Before she could spiral, movement registered at the edge of her vision.
Orphan got up and approached her, setting aside her own food. "Do you want to take your mind off of it?"
Maxie stared up at her. She found that she didn't quite like the whole thing with masks—she couldn't see anyone's eyes. Regardless, she set aside those insignificant feelings. "How?" she asked, hesitant.
"There's a sorta kinda gym behind that door over there," said Spoiler. "We could help you work up a sweat. Trust me, it can help even if you don't see it at first."
Maxie rose from her seat, psyching herself up. "Okay. I've uh... only ever self-trained before and got tips from my partner once. You'll have to teach me basically from scratch."
"Oh, no problem! That actually sounds fun," Spoiler replied cheerily.
While her partner skipped happily to the combat room, Orphan matched Maxie's pace, walking side by side with her. "Thanks for letting us help," she said.
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
The first raid was over, but there was still work to be done. Now that they had cleared the dockside warehouse, Lucian asked Nightwing for as much intel as he could provide on the next hit. They reconfirmed where it was, did a personnel count, described what else to expect, and much more.
When invited to head out, he told Nightwing to go on ahead of him. He explained that he wanted to cool off a bit before going in again. That, and the fact of what he was told to expect... he couldn't go it without restabilizing first.
Eventually, Nightwing left after being assured that Lucian would catch up with him soon. Once he was alone, he moved to the docks to stare out at the rippling water. There, he took some time to reflect.
"I've kinda been doing jack shit, huh?"
[ What do you mean? You've done a lot. ]
"Not that way," he insisted. "I've been helping out the city, sure, but with you inside me? Hell, I could take over the universe given time. Feels like wasted potential..."
[ Given time. That's the important part. It hasn't even been a month since we were born, Luce. ]
He sighed, which came out more like a growl or snarl. "Just feels like I've been drifting along or some shit. Hell, that's what I've done both in my old life and the Academy. Gifted kid with nothing to show for his talents."
[ Oh, you fucking blockhead... ]
He waved at the air as if trying to bat Penny away from his shoulder. "Just airing grievances..."
Lucian paused to breathe and think further. After verbalizing his issues, his mind had somewhat cleared up.
"Alright. Baby steps. I think I got a little goalpost already."
[ Mhm... tell me. ]
"I made a promise. If nothing else, I gotta do right by Max no matter what," he said. "I'll start by cleaning up this immediate threat to her safety, and I'll help out everyone else along the way. Then... I'll work my way up to fixing the whole damned city."
He crouched low, ki and Quirk energy flooding every muscle fiber. Tendrils emerged from all over his torso, weaving together into a pair of wings much better than the last. In preparation for takeoff, he pushed One for All much further than before. The 'safe limit' of Full Cowling was just that, after all—a safe limit. Those things existed to be broken.
With his bones creaking and muscles burning, he took off, legs launching him dozens of meters up into the air. The old and unused wooden docks exploded beneath him, left crushed in his wake, reduced to nothing but splinters and driftwood.
The hunt was on.
...
Having flown a considerable distance, the Manticore landed heavily before a hotel. It was located in a particularly rough neighborhood, and so didn't stand out too much. That unassuming establishment was to become its hunting ground that night.
Around it, bystanders scattered like roaches escaping from sudden light. After all, its entrance had shaken the earth from the impact—conventional wisdom demanded that they prioritize escape above all else.
Standing before the door, [Danger Sense] alerted the Manticore to a handful of presences behind it. Because the area was dense with people, using Howling Maw was not an option. Casualties were unacceptable. It reared a fist back with One for All overclocked, and then—
An explosion of splinters and wood chunks assaulted the guards behind the door. They didn't have any time to recover. As soon as the door was out of the way, the Manticore leapt over them, bound them up in tendrils, and slammed them hard against the walls. Though they were embedded into the cheap material, it saw that their current predicament likely wouldn't keep them down for long.
"Tough bastards..."
As a precaution, it broke their weapons and slashed at their hands with its claws. That way, though their wounds were shallow, they had effectively been taken out of any fights for the night. No sane man would ever take up arms with such injuries—especially not against an enemy much, much stronger than they were.
With the preliminary obstacle handled, the Manticore took a deep breath and used its enhanced senses to feel out the environment. There was more movement upstairs, while the basement levels were quiet. 'Smart,' it thought. Before making a move on the rest of the hotel, it gathered up furniture and sealed all known entrances and exits to the basement.
"I'm saving you lot for last," it whispered.
The upper floors were just as easy as the first, if not more so. Even as the people up there wisely held their ground and avoided bottlenecking themselves at the stairs, they stood no real chance. The fact that it was nighttime only made things worse for them.
After the first floor from the ground, the Manticore lifted a firearm from one of the enemies. It used that to bust all of the lights and leave everyone but itself blinded, before attacking in earnest.
'I should invest in training my ki manipulation... having ki blasts as an option would make me much more versatile.'
It didn't take long for most of the hotel to fall at the Manticore's claws. Doors were busted down, furniture lay strewn in pieces across the floor, and incriminating piles of evidence were left for the police to discover later. Like the other locations, there were mainly drugs and weapons, but there were others as well. Movement plans, communication records, as well as schedules and timelines that led to other points of interest.
Though there were no deaths in its assault at the hotel, the Manticore had inflicted injuries upon many, and it felt no remorse in its violence. Once the regular hotel floors were done, it hurried down to the ground floor to clear up its blockade against the basement.
Pounding could clearly be heard when it reached the ramshackle barrier—those inside were trying to escape. It pulled the blockage away, piece by piece, and the pounding stopped. When it was done clearing the way, the basement entrance suddenly opened, followed by a spray of fully automatic gunfire.
Having sensed the attack coming in advance, the Manticore had already maneuvered out of the way. From its perch above the entrance, it grabbed at the discarded debris using its tendrils and sent it all flying into the basement. Pained cries rang out as the projectiles made impact, and it capitalized on the confusion that followed to clear out the last area.
"Fucker got inside!" yelled one of the basement guards just before being thrashed against the ceiling. He fell back down to the floor, bones broken and drooling blood from a cut in his mouth.
Instead of freezing up or running away, the rest simply redoubled their efforts in a fit of desperation.
"Fucking shoot him!"
"Kill him, for God's sakes!"
"Don't let the bastard get outta here alive!"
Armed personnel cried out in a chaotic chorus as they attempted to fight back. One by one, they were silenced, the air stilling all around. The Manticore was left standing all alone amid a disarray of unconscious and broken bodies.
Observing the area in full revealed the basement's true nature. That underground section had rooms—it was the original ground floor until the street level rose, and the owners had to bury it in the ground. Focusing one by one on each chamber, [ Justice Sense ] made the Manticore feel like there were thorny vines wrapped tightly around its heart.
"There they are..."
The doors were ajar in some of the rooms, while others were locked tight, some even barricaded from within. Slowly and with apprehension, it approached the nearest room and tried the door. The knob twisted in its hand, and the door creaked open. A woman squeaked from within as it entered, audibly shrinking in on herself under a soaked and dirty blanket.
"Don't be afraid," said the Manticore. "I'm here to free you. All of you."
Fear and tension were soon replaced with tears and relief. Wailing, the woman cried out and clutched the sheets to her face, not caring to hide her naked body.
'Fuck's sake... Clear signs of malnourishment. Cuts and bruises. Red marks on vein spots. Welts along the thighs and torso.'
Though it could do nothing about her skin-and-bones constitution, the Manticore gave her its lifeforce, and her injuries vanished in minutes. It would have hesitated had the situation called for evidence to be preserved, but as it was, there was more than enough alternative evidence to confirm what people have done to these captives.
The Manticore went on to the rest of the rooms one by one. It declared the women's freedom to them and coaxed them out, healing their injuries if they had any. Some of them thanked it profusely, while others stayed guarded but took the offer of freedom regardless. Many simply cried until they could do so no longer.
Among their numbers were a few that were delirious, actively drowning under the effects of the drugs that were forced onto them. Their beds were in disarray when the Manticore arrived, the odor of sex still suffusing their rooms. That explained why some of those he fought just earlier were in a state of partial undress.
Remembering what it had done for Gina the night prior, the Manticore used its lifeforce to purge the substances from their bodies. This left them tired and unconscious, but at least their minds would be clear when they later return to waking world.
All in all, twenty-three people were rescued from that hotel. As was obvious, their bodies were being sold to whomever came, and they'd been stuck down there for varying lengths of time. The longest time spent down there seemed to be a handful of years. Any longer and it was quite likely that they just either died, were thrown out, or outright purchased.
The situation was only made worse by the fact that, like at the factory, some of them weren't even quite women yet.
The police were called once everyone was accounted for, both victims and perpetrators. The Manticore left just as their blue-and-red lights entered the periphery, in much the same manner that it had earlier. This time, the ground held up against the force of its leap unlike the fragile docks.
...
Lucian landed far away, at the location he was told go to over comms. When he touched down, Nightwing came out of the shadows. "That was something," he said.
"Donovan's really pissing me off," Lucian replied.
Nightwing hummed, then said, "Anger's good. Just make sure it doesn't consume you when you use it as fuel."
"Long as I still got somethin' to lose, it won't." Lucian let himself fall backwards, back slamming against the ground. "So. How'd I do?"
"Really well," Nightwing replied. "Quick and efficient. I'm surprised how much control you have, honestly. I've left people way worse in my time."
Lucian heaved a laugh. "What, you mellowed out over the years? Must've been a handful when you were younger."
Nightwing laughed with him, and pulled him up from the ground. "Oh, like you wouldn't believe."
The rest of their debrief was short. Nightwing asked him to work closely with them for the following days, especially as the time to meet up with Killer Moth drew near. There were many more locations to hit, more people to rescue.
"Anytime you need, just call," said Lucian before they made to return to the Robinson Batcave. "I'll come running."
...
[ Quest: "Unpaid Internship" has been completed. ]
[ Rewards: ]
[ Received Cloak of Distortion [C] ]
[ New equipment has been stored to your current Utility Belt. ]
[ 2,000 EXP has been granted. ]
[ Your level has risen to 19. ]
[ One for All bonus: Power, Vitality, and Agility attributes have all risen by 1. ]
[ Behavioral bonus: Power, Mentality, and Spirit have all risen by 1. ]
[ Free attribute points: 5 ]
[ Free attribute assignment: Power +1; Vitality +2; Agility +2. ]
[ 2 class levels unassigned. ]
[ EXP to next level: 4,405 ]
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
Host: Lucian Albrecht
Titles: Vengeful Guardian
Matrix: Quirk User: One for All
Level: 19
Classes [Brawler - Level 5] ; [Acrobat - Level 5] ; [Criminal - Level 5] ; [Monk - Level 1] ; [Magician - Level 1] ; [Unassigned - 2]
-[Attributes]-
Power: 50 ››› 53 [128]
Vitality: 50 ››› 53 [128]
Agility: 50 ››› 53 [128]
Intellect: 31
Mentality: 31 ››› 32
Spirit: 31 ››› 32
Luck: 1
Free Attribute Points: 0
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
Maxie panted, clothes drenched in sweat. Her eyelids were heavy, and so were her fists as she tried to keep them close to her cheeks. Before her, Orphan was barely even winded, still bouncing on her feet in the same relaxed manner she had when they started. The sight struck a blow to her pride, but she knew that this outcome was the only one possible.
"I think... this is it..." she said between pants. "Phew... Yeah, I can't keep going anymore."
Immediately, the spar ended. As soon as the tension left her body, Maxie stumbled. Orphan caught her as she did, and guided her to a nearby bench. There was a water bottle already waiting there, courtesy of Spoiler, and she downed it without hesitation. Spent as she was, some of the water spilled from the corners of her lips, and trickled down her throat and under her clothes.
She gasped after gulping the whole thing down, then sigh a gasp of satisfaction. "Well... at least my body's a lot cooler now..."
"You did great!" Spoiler exclaimed, helping pat away her sweat with a towel.
Orphan sat beside her, untying the wrappings around both of their fists. "Especially for someone with minimal combat experience."
"Thanks," Maxie sighed out. She had half a mind to pass out right then and there, but she fought valiantly against the temptation.
Throughout the spar, Orphan had made little comments to her. The first thing she was told was that her striking power was much higher than it should have been for her frame. Another was how her footwork was clumsy at first, but got much better towards the end. Her reaction time was also apparently pretty good.
While Maxie did feel great about those little victories, it didn't change the truth: as she was now, she was far from enough to count where it mattered. If Orphan was this good and wasn't even a metahuman like Lucian, then how far did she actually have to go?
Spoiler patted her back after she'd been dried as best as possible. "I meant that earlier. You did really good."
She nodded awkwardly in response.
After cooling down for a few minutes, she was led to a shower in the far back of the combat room. She took the time to wash up, and followed Orphan's advice to use cold water instead of hot like she initially wanted. Something about recovery and hypertrophy—she remembered Lucian saying something similar the one time he helped her at the gym.
She got used to the cold water at some point. Finally relaxing in the shower, she let her mind drift.
The thought of Tammy haunted her, alongside Aleck's disgusting smug face. That dreamy, nearly-thoughtless smile that her best friend had whenever she talked about that asshole... she hated it. Loathed it, even.
Maxie shuddered at the possibility that she could have ended up just as nauseatingly smitten with him as her best friend was. The idea of that induced affection made her want to throw up, made her want to get violent, made her want to curl up into a little ball and hide away.
In the face of all of those feelings, the only thing she could do was grit her teeth. To think that all these years, she'd unknowingly left Tammy to stop being herself behind the scenes. Her Cotton Candy... and she never even noticed.
'No... that's wrong. I did notice.'
At first, there was that sudden shift away from her. Tammy loved getting touchy-feely with her, in a way that was undeniably flirtatious. Maxie figured that, since Tammy was getting 'serious' with someone else at that point, she felt the need to stop doing it. Everything felt... platonic, all of a sudden. She never said it out loud, but the disappearance of that more-than-friendly affection broke her heart every time they were together.
All it was unnatural. Not once did Tammy slip up and repeat old habits on instinct, even when their flirtatious touches had been a habit for so long. Like she had become guarded around Maxie ever since Aleck wormed his way into her brain.
Though it hurt, she recounted all of the little things that spotted way too late. There was too many to list in what little time she had to think back on the past. All of them were parts she ignored or justified in her own mind because... well, she didn't want to truly acknowledge what was happening.
'All because I couldn't just ask her out sooner...'
She breathed in deep, then sighed. Every inch of her skin keenly felt the water that cascaded over her, once-cold water turning warm as the droplets absorbed her body heat.
'I couldn't save her. Even if I didn't know, if I'd just fucking asked, Aleck might not have gotten her... or maybe he'd just have gotten us both. Fuck, what am I even thinking about right now?'
More guilt. More resentment. Anger.
Before Maxie knew what she was doing, she had reared back and punched the tiled wall. The ceramic spiderwebbed under her fist when it made contact, producing a thud that shook her body. She stared at the scene in amazement for a good bit until finally, she felt the feedback. The pain.
"Agh...! Fuck...!"
She cradled her right fist with her left hand, staring down at it in horror. Her skin broke, and her knuckles sat at all the wrong angles. All she could do was breathe shallowly and grit her teeth, trying to bear the pain.
Spoiler's voice echoed through the glass door. "Everything okay in there?"
Maxie's first instinct was to keep things to herself and just hide it until she got home, but she caught the thought and discarded it. "N-no..." she replied weakly, fumbling to slip her mask back on. "I... I need help."
The door opened, and she turned off the water. Spoiler came in carrying a towel, and she gasped in surprise at the sight.
"Oh shit... shit, shit, shit..." Spoiler wrapped the towel around Maxie's body, then fidgeted as she struggled to approach the injury. "Let's get outside to treat this. We got painkillers and stuff that can help. C'mon."
Because of the pain, Maxie had to slowly inch her way out. Every movement that was less than optimal sent pain shooting up her bicep, bypassing her forearm, and zapping the bottom of her skull. All of that was on top of the agony that her hand was putting her in.
Orphan appeared before them carrying supplies. "I've already got what we need."
"Hang tight, okay? We're gonna get you some medical attention," Spoiler said softly before addressing Orphan. "Should we get Robin? Or maybe Batman?"
Orphan shook her head. "Neither. We should call the Manticore."
Spoiler stared at her with confusion. Then, the lightbulb dinged above her head. "Oh! Right, when Batman briefed us!"
"Go call them," Orphan commanded. "Leave her to me."
...
Their timing was almost perfect.
Apparently, Lucian had just finished clearing the second location that Nightwing had in mind for him. When the call ended, Spoiler came back into the combat room. She rushed to tell Maxie and Orphan that Lucian literally leapt out of the Nightbird to run all the way back to the Robinson Batcave.
She then dashed back out of the room to man the cave's controls, opening up an alternate entrance and directing Lucian to it over comms. When he arrived, he was running so fast that he had to get down on all fours to arrest his momentum, using both his claws and Blackwhip to just to stop fully.
"Where?!" he yelled when he finally stopped, and Spoiler pointed him the right way.
The air exploded behind him as he leapt into the combat room, and she was left to marvel at the deep gouges he'd made in the metal flooring.
...
Maxie looked up weakly when Lucian appeared before her in his Manticore suit. Color had drained from her face, and her body was shaking.
"What happened?" he asked. Despite his voice being altered in that form, she could clearly hear the hurt in it.
"I got really pissed at myself," she answered. "Punched a wall..."
He sighed, gingerly taking her injured hand in to his grasp. "When Spoiler said you had an accident and got hurt, I thought it was much worse..."
"You actually made Nightwing panic," Orphan commented from the side.
Lucian shrank a bit as he cradled Maxie's hand. He got on one knee to hold it close to his face, so she didn't have to raise it or stand up herself. Right away, she could feel that pleasant warmth again, delivered to her by purple flames and lightning.
The process took some time. It actually itched quite a bit as her hand healed, but Maxie bore with it as Lucian did his best for her. Eventually, after minutes under his care, her hand was healed.
Once it was done, Spoiler leaned in. Her expression was a mixture of shock and fascination. "It scarred," she observed.
Maxie stared at it. Little branches of discolored skin, their texture mismatched with the rest of her hand.
"I'm sorry," Lucian said. "I guess that's just what happens I heal someone without a regenerative healing factor like mine."
Standing up, Maxie's half-dressed body collided with him and hugged him tight. "It's okay," she whispered. "I kinda wanna keep it anyway... as a reminder."
Lucian returned the embrace, gauntleted hands caressing her back and stroking her hair. "I'm just glad it wasn't as bad as I thought..."
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
[A/N]: Fuck's sake, why couldn't all the other chapters have been as easy to write as this one?
Well... whatever. I'm really happy with this entry! I struggled a bit at first, but once I got my momentum, we ended up with this. The toughest part this time was cleaning up the dialogue and narration, and making sure the story flows as best as it can.
Maxine now has a permanent scar on her right hand after busting her fist against that damn wall. Thank fuck Lucian took the Monk class, eh? The ki healing was something he developed on the fly, too—none of Penny's shenanigans there!
[ Hey! Don't call them shenanigans, you little shit...! The little miss worked hard to give me my features! ]
Piss off, Penny. You don't belong here. I've stayed out of the story so far, now scram. Go on, get!
[ ACK— ]
...
So, uh... Hi, this is me from upload day
I meant to post this two hours earlier, but I overslept =⩊=
Ran from home yesterday 'cause my grandfather took out his bullshit on me again, so I was dead tired